Harvest Public Media
Dangerous Jobs, Cheap Meat | Fines For Meatpackers’ Safety Problems Are ‘Embarrassingly Low’
“Dangerous Jobs, Cheap Meat” is a three-part series from Harvest Public Media that focuses on the risks faced every day by the half-million people working in meatpacking factories to feed America’s desire for cheap meat. Look for Part II tomorrow on Flatland. On the worst day of Greta Horner’s life, she was dressed in a burlap robe,…
How The Futures Market Helps Keep Your Grocery Bill Down
At the grocery store, processed foods like cereal, crackers and candy usually maintain the same price for a long time, and inch up gradually. Economists call these prices “sticky” because they don’t move much even as some of the commodities that go into them do. Take corn, for example, which can be a major food…
Student-Run Organic Farm Thrives at Traditional Land-Grant University
A weathered wooden shed that holds wheelbarrows, hoes and other basic tools is the beacon of the Student Organic Farm, a two-acre swath within the Iowa State University Horticulture Research Farm. On a warm spring evening, a half-dozen students gather here, put on work gloves and begin pulling up weeds from the perennial beds where…
To Save the Monarch Butterfly, Many are Turning to the Humble Milkweed
Monarch butterflies are disappearing. Scientists agree that in the last 20 years, populations of the black and orange insect have been in precipitous decline. But there’s much less certainty on what’s causing them to vanish. As each new scientific paper on monarch decline is published, the image becomes slightly less opaque. So far, potential culprits…
Explainer: GMO Labels
There’s a heated debate happening right now about GMOs and labels. Big food companies like General Mills, Mars and Kellogg’s say they plan to put labels on their products that tell consumers whether or not the food contains ingredients derived from genetically engineered plants. So what’s the big deal? What are GMO labels, and what do they…
Why Do Cows Moo? Here Are a Few Reasons
We all learned it as kids: Old MacDonald has a farm and on that farm he has a cow that says “moo.” But why? Why do cows moo? Whenever I’m out reporting in the field I can tell many ranchers have a powerful connection with their cattle – they can almost understand them. But researchers today…
A Matter of Taste: Why Congress May Back Off New School Lunch Standards
Schools across the U.S. served more than 5 billion meals in the national school lunch program to millions of students last year. Each one of the meals has to meet federal rules for nutrition. Now, those rules are up for debate and Congress could impose changes on the cafeteria. School lunch was transformed by the…
For Farmers, Every Planting Season is a High Stakes Bet
Near Alexander, Iowa, on a cloudy spring Tuesday, Josh Nelson watches a bright red Case IH Magnum tractor pull a 24-row planter and crest a small hill, dropping corn seed at careful intervals. Nelson says his family farm dodged a weather bullet this week, but it’s just one of many hurdles this season promises. Planting…
Feeding Bacteria to Livestock Could Cut Antibiotic Use
On a cold windy morning, Kelly Nissen feeds the cows at the Iowa State University Beef Nutrition Farm north of Ames. Far from just tossing hay, he weighs out specific rations and carefully delivers them to numbered feed bunks. “When you’re feeding, you’re always double-checking yourself to make sure it’s going in the right lot,”…
When Rivers Can’t be Controlled, Farmers are Left in Limbo
Driving along rough and muddy gravel roads next to what was once a rich soybean field, farmer Adam Thomas gazes out on an upended mess of tubes, wheels and hoses from a nearby farmer’s irrigation system. Nowadays, his farmland in Miller City, Illinois, looks like a scene from “Lawrence of Arabia.” Layer upon layer of…